David John & the Mood Biography

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David John & the Mood made two cool, offbeat British Beat R&B singles in the mid-1960s, rare as get-out these days, but reissued on various compilations of obscure British Invasion recordings. Nothing is known about the band, except that they were produced by Shel Talmy (the Who, the Kinks, early David Bowie, Creation, and others). David John had a high-pitched, fey voice that led some collectors to guess that he might in fact be David Bowie, particularly as Talmy produced some David Bowie recordings in 1964 and 1965. It has since been established that the singer is definitely not Bowie, and that David John's real name was Miffy Charnley.

All four of the David John tracks are worth hearing by connoisseurs of sub-Pretty Things-styled British R&B, with the twist of those high, giggly, almost squirrelish vocals. These included a vicious cover of "Pretty Thing" with an incredibly wacked-out, rudimentary out-of-tune guitar solo, a version of Bo Diddley's "Bring It to Jerome," an accomplished "I Love to See You Strut" with high-pitched whistles, and a Charnley original in the R&B-rock style, "To Catch That Man." "Bring It to Jerome" and "I Love to See You Strut" were included on Pebbles Vol. 6; "To Catch That Man" showed up on Broken Dreams Vol. 2; and "Pretty Thing" is on (Trans-World Punk Vol. 2. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide